Chasing Rainbows; help a family grow!

Our family has been chasing rainbows for 13 years, and we need the support of our village to make the dream of helping our family grow into a reality. I have PCOS, so we knew early on that biological children were not in our future because of this. Didn't stop us trying; so over those 13 years, there have been 7 miscarriages.

Thirteen years ago, we started the process to be accepted into the adoption pool. Back in those days, home for life was brand new; so you couldn't be in both pools at once.

After 8 years, our hide 'n' seek champion made his appearance, and we adopted our son. He's awesome and amazing, and we are so lucky to be his parents!

After a year out of the pool, we rejoined, as we know that it can take a loooooooooooooong time to be chosen. Because there are so few adoptions in New Zealand, this time we could also join the Home for Life pool, which is permanent guardianship.

This second journey has been 5 years in the making. We've matched a few referrals, but weren't chosen. It's not easy putting yourself out there over and over, hoping that this will be the time your family is chosen. When it was just the two of us, we could cope. Watching our son hope that this time he would finally be a big brother, only for it to not happen, was devastating.

Earlier this year, we were finally chosen...for an adoption! We were ecstatic! Finally the wait was over!

Unfortunately, it was not to be; the adoption did not proceed. It was harder than any miscarriage; we knew the child actually existed, but would not be joining our family.

In our shared grief, our family discussed if this is the right path for us to continue on. We knew that there had been amazing advances in reproductive therapy since our journey started 13 years ago. These advances could even assist us despite the challenges presented by PCOS! Whilst science could help us, the window of opportunity was short. I'm 40, so if we're going to do this, it has to be now.

Because of my age, we aren't eligible for public funding. We need help to fund IVF, because of the short timeframe available to us. It is not easy to ask for help funding this, but we know that sometimes you have to swallow your pride and ask your village for assistance.

We have an amazing egg donor ready to make our dream come true, so we are hoping to meet a rainbow in 2020! If you can't donate, we appreciate you sharing our Facebook page, and sharing this givealittle page to spread our story. Thank you for helping us chase this rainbow!